The Kohawks entered the championship round Saturday night assured of at least a third place finish, with a shot at second. Coe needed to win both matches, including one with bonus points, and have Augsburg lose both of its championship matches. Only one of the four matches went the direction the Kohawks needed, as they finished third with 74 points.
Coe's first finalist was senior Jordan Westfall (Riverside, Iowa/Highland) at 133 pounds. Westfall entered the tournament as the seventh-seeded wrestler, upsetting the number two and three seeds to reach the finals. Faced with three-time All-American, and defending National Champion, Seth Ecker of Ithaca, Westfall gave up a takedown with one minute left in the first period and trailed 5-0 at the end of the period, as Ecker earned back points with under :10 left in the period. Ecker added a takedown in the second period and a point for riding time for the 8-0 major decision. Westfall ends the season 25-9 and wraps up his career with a 74-32 record.
The 165 pound championship match was a rematch of the Iowa Conference Finals between top-seeded Nick LeClere (Coggon, Iowa/North-Linn) and Wartburg's second-seeded Landon Williams. LeClere scored an early takedown, but Williams tied the match with a late reversal to tie the match at the end of the first period. LeClere started the second period on the bottom and took a 4-2 lead on a reversal. With less than :10 to go in the period, Williams escaped, cutting the lead to 4-3 going into the third period. Williams escaped to start the period and earned a takedown in the final seconds. After a point for riding time, Williams won 7-4. It is the second-straight runner-up finish for LeClere, who was a three-time All-American for the Kohawks. LeClere was 29-3 this season and wrapped up his career with a 91-15 record.
On top of the best finish in wrestling history, Coe's third place finish was the second best finish any athletic team at Coe has ever had. The 2009 softball team was the National Runner-Up and the only other team to finish in the top three of an NCAA Championship. Wartburg won the team title with 141.5 points, with Augsburg finishing second with 86.5. Wisconsin-La Crosse was fourth with 65, while Ithaca was fifth with 61.5. Loras placed 29th with 11.5 points, Luther 33rd with 10 points and Cornell 38th with 5.5.
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